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Money Box: British Gas prices; Star fund managers; Credit unions square up; Asda angers customers

British Gas prices; Star fund managers; Credit unions square up; Asda angers customers

19/10/2013

BBC Radio 4 - Money Box, British Gas prices; Star fund managers; Credit unions square up; Asda angers customers

Winter blast as British Gas hikes prices, star fund managers, and credit unions square up.

British Gas raises its prices - time to switch? The pros and cons of following a star fund manager. Can credit unions compete with payday lenders? And Asda angers mobile customers.

British Gas has announced to its customers that their bills will rise by 9% from the end of next month.
This comes a week after SSE announced a hike in average dual fuel bills of 8.2%. Why are prices soaring? And what can we do about it? And are there still deals to switch to which will freeze your prices for four winters?

Neil Woodford, Invesco Perpetual 's star manager and one of the most consistently successful fund managers of the last few decades, is to leave the firm in April to found his own company. Should the people with £30 billion invested in his funds try to follow him? Or stick with his successors. Can you make money following star managers from fund to fund? 

Can Credit Unions compete with payday lenders for low value short term loans? They clearly can on price. But can they offer loans in ten minutes and create public awareness through advertising? The Government would like to think so and is providing £13m a year to fund their infrastructure. But some credit unions have collapsed during the downturn. Money Box looks at the long term future of credit unions. 

Asda Mobile has angered some customers after it announced that they cannot transfer any unused credit when its pay-as-you-go service moves to a new provider later this year. A compliance expert tells the programme whether Asda is breaching its contract with its customers.

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